Computer security comes at a net cost

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Internet security may be priceless, but people who want a safer web browser with their older versions of Windows will pay $239.

Until last month, Microsoft's security-challenged Internet Explorer browser, which came to dominate the web as a free download, could also be updated for free.

But a recent upgrade that security experts say was needed to keep pace with emerging threats is available only as part of an upgrade for the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, Windows XP, and costs $239.

So, as the web emerges as a new security minefield, about 200 million computers using older versions of Window are cut off from the latest update for the world's most popular browser.

The head of security at Microsoft Australia, Ben English, said the decision to leap forward, leaving older versions of its software behind, was necessary to rethink security at the core of Windows because the internet was a more dangerous place. "We're living in a vulnerable world now," Mr English said. "That's a harsh reality of modern internet life."

He said Windows XP - with the latest big upgrade - had a range of new features to improve security and more, making it good value.

Microsoft would support its older browser with regular basic security patches, he said.

But the move is also expected to spur upgrades - reviving flagging operating systems sales - which has left some suspicious of Microsoft's motives.

Windows XP has has not been upgraded for three years. Its replacement, dubbed Longhorn, has been delayed and is not expected until 2006.

"It's a long gap between upgrades," an analyst at AMR Inter- active, Jason Juma-Ross, said.

Charles Britton, a policy officer for the Australian Consumers' Association, said: "We'd rather see them use some other carrot than the security stick."

Upgrading an operating system was not to be taken lightly, Mr Britton said, because it could involve also having to buy new hardware and software - even for machines just a few years old.

Mr Juma-Ross said people might be persuaded to switch for security in the long term, but in the shorter term they might just switch to another web browser, such as Mozilla's free Firefox, which was also more secure.

A technical director at the security firm Symantec, Tim Hartman, said Microsoft's new upgrade approach might make business sense, but did not recognise that the internet had "evolved into critical e-commerce infrastructure ... [and with that] comes some serious global social responsibilities".

He said the great bulk of internet attacks were coming from older computers, increasingly from developing countries whose people may not be able to afford big upgrades.